London: 15 Must-Know Facts About England’s Capital (Part 1)

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London is a beautiful city and favored vacation destination, and we have the scoop on all of the must-know facts to learn about this amazing place! This city of England is world-renowned for its title, and we are about to find out why! Be sure to check back for our coming part two article, featuring the top eight must-know facts about the beautiful London!

Number Fifteen: The London Stone

No one knows the source or origin of this stone, which may be just what makes it so appealing. This stone has been documented throughout maps, literature, and other works as early as 1100 AD. It is literally just a small boulder; no writings, no art, nothing that would give it any potential value. Nonetheless, it has been protected throughout the course of time, and no one dares remove it.

Number Fourteen: London Bridge is Falling Down

Because every song we learned as kids has to have a gruesome reality behind it, the famous song about the London Bridge has to follow suit. In 1091, the wooden structure was broken to pieces by an F4 class tornado. In the 1744 nursery rhyme, this event could have been the possible subject.

Number Thirteen: The Great Fires

OR, it could have been one of the Great Fires. The bridge was then built in stone but continued to be unlucky. By the second fire in 1212, the structure had collapsed from the damage and killed more than 3,000 people.

Number Twelve: America Across Borders

In honor of the friendship formed between America and England in 1921, ending the long-time hostility, a statue of George Washington was placed in Trafalgar Square. America approved with the gesture, but declared that George Washington claimed that he would “never set foot in London again!”, and they had one condition. As per their request, Virginia soil was transferred to Trafalgar Square, and the statue was situated on American soil.

Number Eleven: The Royal Mail

Royalty in England, of course, gets all of the preferred treatments, especially the luxury of having their own personal mail system. Well, they used to. It was an eight-station, underground set of mini-trains that carried the royal mail across multiple cities for as long as 70 years. It still sits under there, but its mail-carrying days are over.

Number Ten: A Capital for All

As remarkable as it may seem, this city has been the capital for six countries- all at the same time. Many countries flocked to the safety offered by England, including the displaced governments of the Dutch, Belgium, Norway, Poland, and France.

Number Nine: The Hidden Graveyard

In times of the bubonic plague, many places were designated mass graves for affected victims. Aldgate station, a highly populated destination in London, was built on one of these notorious graveyards. Legend has it that over 1,000 bodies were buried on that site alone. Be sure to check back for our coming part two article, featuring the top eight must-know facts about the beautiful London!